Thanks to everyone who shopped, shared, crafted, and celebrated at the Asheville Etsy Craft Party at Lark. Would you believe there were almost 600 parties happening worldwide in honor of Etsy’s fifth birthday? Amazing! As a group of Larkettes, Ashevillains, and Etsians, we’re proud to have ranked in the top 20 of those parties by RSVPs counted at Meetup. (And grateful for the box o’ goodies Etsy sent us too.)

We held our Etsy fiesta outside and were joined by crafters, shoppers, artists, authors, mamas carrying babies, dads pushing strollers, people with dogs, kids playing Pin the ‘Stache (thanks, Kristi and Shannon), downtown neighbors, out-of-towners, and lots of new friends. It was one part mini craft fair, one part craft party, and equal parts awesome. We even got to enjoy the live music from Downtown After Five. Talk about a crafty good time. See some more pictures from our Flickr set here.

So here’s to you, Etsy! Thanks for helping us discover new designers and contributors for our books, for being a constant source of inspiration, and for giving artists everywhere a chance to shine. Lark loves you, Asheville loves you, and we raise our glasses, and our voices, in wishing you the happiest of birthdays, and many, many more to come.

There was a party here in Tampa, Florida, but I couldn't attend. My hope is that this is going to be an annual event because there's so much going on in the field of arts and crafts through Etsy. Congratulations to the sellers who displayed their art at the various parties. Next year I plan on joining them.

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